“The Swamp” aka the “Third House”, etc like to try to control outcomes as much as they can. We’ve detailed the massive amounts of money they spend to manipulate election results on Central Committees. We’ve begun to detail the manipulation of legislative elections via all the independent expenditures.

You’re mad as hell over the Chad Mayes of the world selling us out? Well, here is another step in the “Burn it Down” series.

The California Republican Party represents the biggest target of all for “the Swamp”. The California Republican Party can receive and distribute massive amounts of cash, has a bulk mail permit that endorsed candidates can use and the endorsement is the most consequential of all.

If you read the by-laws of the California Republican Party you will realize that there is real power in the offices of the party, in particular the board of directors.

The Board of Directors are either elected by regional caucuses or by the delegates at large.

Understanding how delegates are appointed gives you a window in to some more of the massive expenditures of cash by “the Swamp”.

Every central committee chairman gets appointments. The chairman and the treasurer are automatic delegates. This is a major reason why County Party elections were targeted all across the state with massive expenditures of cash. The first reason we outlined in Part 1, to control the voice of the local county party to reduce accountability for “Republicans” doing the bidding of the swamp (aka Cap and Trade), but the second reason is control of delegates.

Every failed District Level Republican Candidate is themselves a delegate and may get appointments based on a formula.

Every failed Statewide Republican Candidate is themselves a delegate (but only the top vote-getter should no Republican make a runoff) and gets a few appointments.

Some Volunteer Groups/Clubs get a few appointments.

Some Party officers get a few appointments.

You can see then, why the donors will pay the filing fees for people loyal to them to get on the ballot and lose in an array of districts all over heavily democratic areas. This has been the case in 2012 and 2016 where the “Spirit of Democracy PAC” has sponsored a slew of candidates in to hopelessly democratic districts. My estimation is that this effort has netted 50-75 delegates. When you only have about 900 at a typical convention, this is deadly.

Another thing “The Swamp” does to control the CRP Convention is running “Proxy Drills”. If you are involved in the State Party, you get the letters every convention asking for you to fill out this form and send it to “Republican Leadership” at some address in Sacramento. They do this because it works and usually will net 100 or more easy votes a convention. They also pay people like Jessica Patterson, David Reade, Steve Davey and Andy Garakhani (sp?) to make phone calls to gather more personally.

Those four and others are also responsible for making sure all of the proceedings of the convention happen the way they were planned out. They run “whip drills” to make sure delegates vote the way they are supposed to and attempt to make sure floor sessions are managed to an outcome.

With the knowledge of what the swamp does to control the California Republican Party, this is another area where traditionally undisciplined conservatives can and need to come together and rally around a cause.

We’ve talked about Central Committees and their significance and how to take them over despite the extreme money advantage of the swamp.

Now – a couple key things to know about the CRP:

Filing conservatives in democrat districts and raising the money to pay their filing fees AND to get a ballot statement is imperative. When “The Swamp” hear that Conservatives are filing for districts, they will file opponents for them regardless of how hopeless the district is. This means you need to be smart and file with candidate statements in the largest counties in order to have a chance of being the top vote getter versus the swamp.

Develop relationships with your local partisan electeds. Do things for them, ask for delegate appointments. The worst they can say is no. If they do, then you know whose side they are on.

Volunteer Clubs can endorse and organize for party office elections, this is another reason to be involved in a volunteer club.

Volunteer Clubs can rally to run proxy drills. Any delegate can get a list of the party delegates and their group can call to try and obtain proxies before an election. “The Swamp” does it, why can’t the Conservatives?

Again, as I lamented in previous posts, running these sorts of efforts will require patience, perseverance, humility, cohesion and organization. I have not seen much in my 20 years in the party hold high hopes of it happening. However, because so many people are angry over the Chad Mayes, Rocky Chavez, Heath Flora, etc – I am laying out a roadmap so that the activists can retake their party from the monied elite.

Some may wonder why I am laying this out here. It is simple, when those with the passion of their convictions take on the unprincipled establishment on a level playing field, the establishment (aka the swamp) can’t win. This is why they have to spend so much money and hire so many people to execute their plans…

… and this will bring us to Part 5… so what do you do when Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars are spent in your district against your Conservative Candidate?

Within the California Republican Party are a series of volunteer clubs. I will list most of them with a brief description and then conclude with ideas about how they can play a role in preventing the “Third House” and Republican Leadership from having free reign to run amok.

AS I wrote about County Central Committees being basically useless without real people doing real things to raise money, recruit candidates and promote the endorsements, this is also true of a volunteer club. Several clubs are basically shells with only a few members left that accomplish little. That said, some of those groups represent real opportunities for perceived influence.

My personal feelings about organizations aside, here is as close to an impartial analysis as I can offer:

The California Republican Assembly (CRA) is a far-right group that is centered around debating and endorsing candidates.

The California Congress of Republicans is a center-right grassroots group with a handful of chapters statewide. They endorse.

The College Republicans are an age-based GOP group across the ideological spectrum. They are known for turning out volunteers for “target races” around the state.

The California Young Republican Federation is also an age-based GOP group of people from College to age 41. They endorse and also turn out volunteers for elections.

The Republican Women Federated is a gender-based group of people of all ages. They do not endorse. They are a volunteer club.

The Log Cabin Republicans. They are a the LGBT republicans.

There are smaller groups centered around ethnicity or the Republican Lawyers – but most all exist on paper only.

Similar to taking over a Republican Central Committee, organizing a grassroots club can be a tool to create a movement of its’ own. There are a limited number of seats on a County Central Committee, but an unlimited number of memberships to a grassroots group.

You can see why “The Swamp” like to manipulate and play in the outcomes of the College and Young Republican’s elections and why in the past they played in the CRA elections. Similar to manipulating and controlling county parties, clubs present perceived power.

In the past, I’ve been a chapter president of a local club that organized to take over the Placer GOP Central Committee, elected 6 of its’ members to local office and registered hundreds of voters. Volunteer Groups can be far more effective than a county Central Committee could ever dream of being… especially when that group has a PAC committee to use for elections.

How do you participate in a successful volunteer club? You have to have something to sell…

A good club has events that draw people in

A good club has a clear vision of what it is trying to accomplish

A good club is active, making phone calls, walking precincts, hosting events and recruiting candidates

A good club communicates with its’ members frequently

Note: I did not mention social media. Facebook is useless as a tool for beating the Third House or the Swamp

How do these volunteer groups relate to burning down the California Republican Party?

A volunteer group with 30-50 members can create terror in the heart of a rogue Republican Elected. 30-50 people talking, walking precincts, making phone calls, contributing to their opponent, and hosting events is an army. 30-50 people whining on Facebook is background noise.

If the group has stable, ethical leadership with their egos in check, there is literally nothing that can stop them from having a devastating impact on an election. If fights to the death for ideological purity or being right carry the day, then the swamp wins.

The swamp also counts on good Conservatives having too many excuses to organize an effective movement. If you care about burning down the GOP to take it away from the money people, special interests, consultants and unprincipled electeds then it requires a sacrifice of personal time to do so.

Volunteer groups are an effective and almost immediate way to cause the earth to shift politically.

In Part 4, I will detail how Central Committees and Volunteer Groups play a role in the California Republican Party, the next target in the “Burn it Down Series”

A lot of local activists are fixated on their local Central Committees. It is easy to see why as there is perceived power in the local County Party apparatus.

A local County Party can vet and endorse candidates and with that comes a lot of perceived power.

In practice, most County Central Committees are debating societies with people that are barely civil toward each other. Most County Central Committees raise no money, have few if any events and accomplish next to nothing. I am aware that even today many County Central Committees can’t make quorum. (meaning that the minimum number of members required to be present are not, thus no legal meeting can occur) Most all accomplish nothing.

The fixation on Central Committees by activists has allowed the Swamp to keep activists distracted while they go out and spend massive amounts of money electing unprincipled puppets.

So, part 2 of the Burn Down the California Republican Party series is to put Central Committees in proper perspective. They can be an effective tool in forcing accountability from elected officials and they can be a gigantic, ineffective waste of time.

If you want to take over a local County Party, you are going to have to have a plan. (If you are in a large county, this will have to be replicated across each Assembly District)

You will need a plan to raise money for the committee itself so that endorsements made mean something

In order to raise money, you need something to sell meaning:

You need to have a plan with volunteers or paid staff that registers voters

You need real, participating volunteers that will seek out candidates for local office

You need a real plan to reach out to people in the community to get them to buy in to your vision for the future

Do you have a cohesive vision for the future? If not, why do you want to take over a County Central Committee?

Will the people involved in this effort be cohesive with each other? Are they healthy people with their egos in check? Are they kind of people that you’d be proud to be with in public?

It makes no sense whatsoever to try and take over a County Party Committee if you do not have enough active participants that will engage and make the control of the Party Apparatus mean something. It also will fail if the effort is led by nerds, malcontents or otherwise unhealthy people. You must have ethical, balanced, healthy people at the head of any effort. Remember – the money is against the Conservatives so our effort has to be efficient, well run and mistake free or “the Swamp” will win.

I don’t know of many groups, let alone conservative groups capable of mustering this sort of plan or vision. It can, however be done with discipline, commitment and focus.

The Third House spent money in 40+ county party races in an effort to neutralize County Parties or in some cases to be able to use them as funding conduits for their anointed legislative candidates in future elections. They don’t need to have a group of activists or a vision – with no cohesive opposition they can spend their way to what they want.

If the Conservatives can unify and focus, then taking over a County Central Committee can be devastating. A body that can recruit and fund candidates for office, with a volunteer army can not be stopped by the Third House because Conservatives have the passion of their conviction. When conviction is combined with a few dollars and a few boots, it is a winner in an election.

So how do you take over a County Central Committee in 2017? The elections are not until 2020.

You need to know the rules in your county. How many per supervisor district (or Assembly District in certain larger counties)?

Recruit a candidate for EVERY open seat there is. Get the exact number, don’t recruit too many or too few as this will cause you to lose seats

Get each person running to commit $250 – $500 to the effort, create a PAC if needed for everyone to chip in to. This way you can buy advertisements. (those annoying slate mail cards)

You can buy the voter file in your county cheaply and use it to find people to talk to. You have 3 years to start developing a support base that will withstand the thousands spent against you

Join a volunteer club and get active. (this will be the subject of another post)

If you spend all of your time on social media are not out in the community meeting people, don’t bother even trying to file for Central Committee or any other office. It is completely unfair that Conservatives have to run actual campaigns to counter the wads of money being spent by the “third house” trying to control the County Parties, but until we beat them they will continue spending the money.

Think it through as an unprincipled business decision for the Swamp / Third House. They are looking for a result from their investment. If they start losing, they will go away.

County Central Committees only mean something if there are real volunteers doing community outreach, recruiting, fundraising and campaigning. Having Conservatives in charge of County Central Committees with a real plan and real results will cause those in office to start thinking twice before supporting insane bills like “Cap and Trade”. Effective Central Committees are a counter balance to unprincipled leadership – and so are Volunteer Clubs…

Today (7/20/2017), the Assembly Republican Caucus met and did not depose Chad Mayes. Their meeting was too short for a leadership vote to happen so we are told.

The real story as put to me is that democrat members were texting Republican members trying to hurry them back on to the floor to finish business in order to make their flights. Please note, the democrats can make quorum by themselves without any Republicans present.

That said, it is the opinion of this blogger that the democrat texting drill to disrupt the caucus meeting was orchestrated.

Chad Mayes Chief of Staff is Joe Justin, he also doubles as a political consultant running some campaigns every election cycle. Justin is also quite liberal for a Republican and is alleged to have advised Ling-Ling Chang to vote yes on some anti-gun bills in advance of her senate run.

Mr. Justin is also quite intelligent and methodical. It makes sense to me after plotting the events on a timeline that this whole thing was in the works weeks ago being guided by Mr. Justin and others and was played out like political theater for the masses. Too bad the masses became enraged by the sell-out. Mr. Justin’s view of the world is germane as his advice is typically leaning left of center on issues of the day. It is also fair to assume that said advice is colored by his worldview.

Many will recall that Chad Mayes was tweeting 5 days before the sell out that “there was no deal”. This was on 7/13, a day after…

In the interim Chad Mayes was quoted as saying, “Man I’m so tired, I was at a Bruno Mars concert last night” – that was a real quote in the halls of government.

Then, 7/20/2017 the revolt within the caucus was supposed to come to a head. It was clear that the vote to depose Chad Mayes would be close – then the antics detailed above occurred in order to delay the inevitable.

Mr. Mayes has a fundraiser at $500 a person on 7/27. Since he is still leader, he will be able to hit the swamp ATM for more cash in order to try to save himself in 2018 from a primary challenge.

The goal was for Mayes to be able to save face and leave with his pride. A key rule in politics is to never admit fault and save face as much as possible. He has lost his ability to lead and it is clear in the caucus.

BTW – as a footnote, it has come to my attention that Brian Manschein voted yes on procedural votes before voting no on Cap and Trade. It was also presented to me that Dante Acosta and Frank Bigelow were attempting to make deals of their own, ultimately voting no when said deals were not consummated. I am aware of one more member alleged to have made comments in support of the deal behind closed doors, yet opposed it in public. It turns out that the sellout almost infected the entire Assembly GOP Caucus, and most had no clue the outrage it would fuel.

In addition, Chad Mayes sordid personal life was exposed in the process.

We have all been affected severely by Mr. Mayes Mid-Life crisis – it is time to remove him from leadership and office so he can watch Bruno Mars concerts with his girlfriend util his divorce is final. Mr. Mayes, please leave the rest of us alone so we can pick up the pieces.

Want to make a difference? Join California Impact Republicans – we lead when others cower in the corner.

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This is a resolution the CIR adopted drawing a clear line in the sand against the alleged leadership of our party in the State Legislature.

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WHEREAS, the values of moderate and conservative Republican alike include fiscal responsibility, smaller government and lower taxes; and

WHEREAS, AB 396 (known as “Cap and Trade”) represents a gas tax increase from $.71 a gallon to as much as $1.40 a gallon, a 50-100% increase in utility rates, and an untold impact on the prices of goods and services by delegating massive government authority to a command and control structure known as the California Air Resources Board; and

WHEREAS, Assembly Permanent Minority Leader Chad Mayes began negotiating with the Democrats to find an excuse to support this massive tax and regulation package; and

WHEREAS, Senator Tom Berryhill who is term limited out of office (meaning there was no accountability to the voters for his actions), made his own deal to support this massive tax and regulation package and has joined Senator Anthony Cannella as a tax sellout; and

WHEREAS, Assembly members Heath Flora, Rocky Chavez, Jordan Cunningham, Marc Steinorth, Chad Mayes and Catherine Baker, all of whom received massive independent expenditures of establishment money supporting their original elections, voted in favor of AB396; and

WHEREAS, the leaders of the Republican Party have made excuses over the last 30 years to abandon core Republican Principles such as Life, Family Values, Gun Rights, Property Rights, Citizenship and now have added Regulation, Size of Government and Excessive Taxation to the list of Democrat values they have adopted; therefore, be it

RESOLVED that we, the Board of Directors of the California Impact Republicans, refuse to accept this sort of behavior; we refuse to allow the Republican Party to be defined by the lack of adherence to principles and values that we have suffered under for a generation in California; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED that we, the Board of Directors of the California Impact Republicans, call upon each of the above-named “cap and traitors,” plus Devon Mathis who also voted yes, to resign from office effective immediately; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, that, should Assembly Permanent Minority Leader Chad Mayes fail to resign from the state assembly, we, the Board of Directors of California Impact Republicans, call upon the California Assembly Republican Caucus to remove said “cap and traitor” from his position as Minority Leader; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED that we, the Board of Directors of the California Impact Republicans salute those Republicans who stood up for us and held firm against higher taxes, and resolve to support them and recruit and elect more Republicans like them.